Average dam levels: Desalination remains the sustainable solution

"The fill rate of the 81 dams in mid-December was 33%, or 2.6 billion cubic metres of water," according to Abdelatif Azira, Director General of the National Agency for Dams and Transfer (ANBT).

Eight dams are at 70% capacity.

At the end of 2025, Abdelatif Azira stated that "the dams located in the east and centre of the country contain a fairly significant amount of water, given that those in the east are about 60% full, with eight of them at 70% capacity, notably the Ben Haroun and Tablout dams, located in Mila and Jijel respectively." However, he continued, this is not the case for "the central and western parts of the country, which could be partially affected by water stress, as their current fill levels fluctuate between 19% and 27%."

Faced with this critical situation, desalination is no longer a marginal option. It is one of the emerging industrial pillars of the era of water stress, according to Nadjib Drouiche, director of research at the Centre for Research in Semiconductors for Energy (CRTSE). "Long perceived as a costly, energy-intensive and polluting solution, it is now undergoing a profound transformation," he notes, adding that "in recent years, and particularly in 2025, the authorities have made a sustained effort through the inauguration and commissioning of new desalination plants." According to him, this transformation is now based on three inseparable strategic axes.

An expanding desalination park

"First and foremost, it is a question of drastically reducing energy requirements, transforming brine, formerly a waste product, into a resource, and finally fully integrating digital intelligence into factories and networks," explains Nadjib Drouiche, emphasising that "several of the projects recently launched or inaugurated in Algeria are precisely in line with this technological approach". In this sense, desalination could become, in the medium term, "an affordable and environmentally acceptable pillar of water security for coastal countries," provided, he says, "that the challenges related to emissions and waste management are sufficiently and quickly resolved."

Nadjib Drouiche adds that "Algeria now has an expanding desalination fleet, which is set to evolve towards more sustainable standards. These changes are therefore far from theoretical. He points out that "the proportion of desalinated water in urban supplies is increasing rapidly", particularly "with the commissioning, in 2025, of several coastal stations designed to secure the drinking water supply".

Technological challenges remain

According to him, this dynamic offers "a unique opportunity to leapfrog technological generations" by directly adopting low-carbon and low-waste models, arguing that "choosing to invest in modern infrastructure avoids costly interim solutions in the long term. However, he warns that "this transition requires strong institutions, rigorous environmental monitoring and a regulatory framework that encourages the reuse of brine rather than its discharge". Without integrated planning linking energy, water and the coastal environment, he warns, "there is a risk of solving the water shortage at the cost of damaging marine ecosystems".

Recent technological advances have reinforced this need. At the heart of this transformation, says Nadjib Drouiche, is "reverse osmosis", emphasising that "continuous advances in membranes, high-pressure pumps and energy recovery systems have made it possible, in thirty years, to reduce electricity consumption per cubic metre produced". This is why, he says, "membrane processes have become the dominant technology worldwide. But the momentum is far from over. "We are no longer just seeing incremental gains," he believes.

Reduction in energy costs

"Biomimetic or nanostructured membranes," says Nadjib Drouiche, promise "increased permeability and better resistance to fouling." At the same time, hybrid systems combining membranes, low-temperature heat and electrochemical processes "could, in some cases, halve current energy costs ." This systemic approach is already being implemented in the field. Nadjib Drouiche cites the Salto de Chira project in Gran Canaria as an emblematic example that Algeria could well adopt. "Desalination is no longer seen as a simple consumer of electricity, but as a flexible load integrated into a renewable production and storage system," he explains. This type of integrated infrastructure, he adds, "is attracting increasing attention from public and multilateral donors, reflecting a profound change in perceptions of the sector. Beyond energy, the research director points to what he describes as 'the historical environmental Achilles heel of desalination, namely brine"

Each plant produces hypersaline effluent that can damage coastal ecosystems. But the narrative is changing. "Brine is no longer just a problem to be managed, it is becoming an economic opportunity," he says, citing "the extraction of salts, magnesium, lithium, and even zero liquid discharge strategies, the possibilities are multiplying. Metathesis electrodialysis, membrane crystallisation and electro-driven membranes make it possible, he concludes, "to recover value-added minerals while reducing the volumes discharged".